1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to magnetic heads and, more particularly, to magnetic heads of the type useful with recorders that employ respective oppositely oriented skew angles for information recorded in adjacent tracks.
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
Video recorders such as the Sony Betamax, and those employing the so-called VHS recording format, record tightly packed video information on magnetic tape, utilizing for such purpose first and second record/play heads in which the record/play gap of the first head is slanted at a positive angle with respect to the direction of relative head-to-tape travel, and in which the gap of the second head is slanted at a negative angle with respect to the direction of relative head-to-tape travel. Because the two heads in question build oppositely oriented skew into the "chevron-like" information tracks which they produce, such tracks may (as a practical matter) be contiguous, i.e. without guard bands therebetween: Since the skewed information recorded by the slant gap of the first head cannot be efficiently played back by the slant gap of the second head, and vice versa, track-to-track isolation between the information in such tracks obtains. Attendantly, the packing density of information so recorded is maximized.
As presently practiced, the manufacture of a video head having a slant gap is a comparatively difficult job, requiring a considerable amount of machining/handling. Such machining/handling, needless to say, can add significantly to the cost of a video recorder incorporating one or more slant gap video heads. It would be desirable, therefore, to adopt a batch fabrication process for the simultaneous manufacture of a large number of slant gap video heads with respective pre-wound coils thereon, thereby to lower the cost of individual heads. Providing such a batch fabrication process, however, is more easily said than done. Certainly, neither of the batch fabrication processes disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,189 or 4,158,213, and elsewhere, is productive of heads of the type in question. A slant gap head such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,479, while capable of batch fabrication, is lacking in relation to what is perceived as a requisite head feature, viz. a batch-produced pre-wound coil.